The dirt from automobiles that is removed in a car wash facility passes through a grate into an eight foot deep mud pit below. Over time the pit fills with mud and periodically the accumulated mud and sludge must be pumped out of the bottom of the pit. Similarly, septic tanks have reservoirs for accumulating waste products in the form of sludge that cannot be absorbed into the surrounding ground and that sludge must also be periodically pumped out of the reservoir of the septic tank.
The mud and sludge which accumulates in septic tanks and in the pits below car washes is removed in tanks mounted on trucks, and the hoses used to pump the mud and sludge are stiff and relatively inflexible and have diameters ranging from a minimum of three inches to a maximum of eight inches. Such hose is so stiff and awkward that it is wrapped around the circumference of the truck for storage while being transported to the work site. During the course of pumping the mud from the bottom of a car wash pit, an operator must stand at the upper edge of the pit and dangle the free end of the hose into the mud as the pump on the truck sucks mud through the hose and into the tank on the truck bed. Because of its stiffness and relatively large diameter, typically six inches, the hose is very heavy and awkward.
To carry out his task, the operator must stand and dangle the length of the hose under his arm and by working his body against the length of the hose, manipulate the open end into the mud in the pit below him. The hose itself has a spiral or groove around its exterior so as to have ripples along its length, but the ripples are of narrow diameter and do not assist an operator in grasping the hose. The operator's task may be further complicated if the hose is wet. As a result of the above, the operator will exhaust great amounts of energy in carrying out his task and may subject himself to injury.
It would be desirable to provide a device that would facilitate the operator in controlling a dredging hose that would improve the operator's grip along the length of the hose.